Leggy with Heavy

JT Scott | 04/12/2020 | 8

Welcome to Monday, coming to the end of our first month of WFH WODs. Yes, our first month of several… I anticipate that it will be several months before we’re back in the facility.

I’m not just telling you this to bum you out! I’m telling you this so that you can get realistic and focused on your goals during this weird timeless-kind-of-time. The days are ticking by, and you’re getting older, and we can either move forward or lose ground.

Look, when things are normal and you’re just coming in to see us at the gym 2-5 days a week, we can take care of this shit for you. We see you, we chat you up, we pay attention, and we give you stuff to work towards on an hour-by-hour, week-by-week, month-by-month basis. It’s what we do as your coaches. But we can’t do that for you so intuitively right now – so setting goals is super important!

Having a reason to get the fuck up in the morning and get something – any one thing – done that day is vital to your mental health on a biochemical level. The more goals you can set and stick to, the better off you’re going to be. Seriously, good goal-setting can be the difference between feeling generally bad about the state of shit and a full-on existential crisis of despair.

For myself, two weeks ago I came to terms with the fact that I would not be getting in heavy barbell work for a while and decided that – since I can’t bulk – it’s a good time to cut. So I set a goal of dialling in my nutrition (not exactly going out to eat now, are we?) and losing 2 pounds per week.

If you’ve been with CFSV for a while you know that’s a really weird thing to read coming from me, and I’ll save the longer discussion about how and when weight-based goal setting is and isn’t useful and why we generally don’t encourage it for another day since this blog is already long enough… but suffice to say I’m on track with my goal so far. The most important thing about setting that goal is that it gives me a framework for planning my schedule and making decisions throughout the day. I’m not gonna bore you with my particular food plan, because it’s MINE and YOURS is gonna be different and ideally customized exactly for you.

Having that set up and rolling, now I’m finding that maybe I’ve got space for another goal. I’m breaking out my old bodyweight strength and conditioning texts this week and going to play with a bunch of things – and by the end of the week I’ll have a new goal set for a couple bodyweight strength progressions to work through in the next 8 weeks.

8 FUCKING WEEKS. We have 8 more weeks at least where this current phase of existence is the way. The good news is that 56 days, 8 weeks, 2 months is a long time – plenty of time to get used to a the new weirdness, make a plan, and transform it into the New Normal. There’s no reason this time has to feel like timeless-kind-of-time any more than we let it be for our own sanity.

All of us from the gym are working hard and not responding to the info box with blazing speed, but if you send me an email directly I will commit to getting back to you within 24 hours. I want you to set some goals, and I’m happy to help give you ideas or give you feedback on your ideas.

For today’s mobility, you should be getting familiar with these stretches by now. For the WOD, pick up something Heavy that you have around the house or in the backyard and load up these movements. It’s not about “for time” here so don’t try to go as fast as possible – it’s about quality reps and doing something that feels heavy. I promise after 3+ weeks away from the barbell it’ll feel heavier than you expect. 🙂

Mobility:
R/L Runners Stretch
R/L Pigeon Stretch
R/L Quad Stretch
F/B arm circles
Double door frame stretch

WOD: “Leggy”
5 Rounds – for quality
10 Heavy Item Swings (KB, or loaded backpack, or DB, or cinder block, bag of sand, or something else)
10 Heavy Item goblet squats
10 Heavy Item Deadlifts
20 Heavy Item Front Rack lunges

• for your Front Rack lunges, focus on core engagement and keeping that chest upright!
• for your Heavy Item, pick something that you can get between your legs, and ideally something that allows for significant range-of-motion in the deadlift. If you are using a backpack, you may want to stand on a chair or stool or something else so that you can get your butt down and really engage your hamstrings properly!